It’s not only your business that is prevailing in the society. No matter whatever sector you operate in and how unique your product and selling strategy is, there is always be other businesses competing in your field to move forward and grab customers. As competitors are something that are inevitable, with every competitor you knock off, one new come into the frame like weeds.
This is the point where Competitive intelligence (CI) comes into place as an integral piece of every successful business strategy. As it is very important for every company to understand where they stand in the market. In order to come up with data-driven decisions. Competitive Intelligence needs understanding of not just the general concepts, but also the various nuances and subcategories that fall into place. Keep up with us till the end in order to get insight of what CI necessitate.
What is Competitive Intelligence Analysis?
Competitive Intelligence Analysis is a term that can be defined as the analysis of competitive intelligence that provides you with the comprehensive understanding of a competitor’s product, value proposition, services, capabilities and weaknesses. It comprises of extensive information that also concerns the market landscape than just the competitor. The information that is attained through such an analysis must be highly specific and timely, giving access to make quick decisions.
Moreover, it should be collated in the form of a report that comprises of all the relevant metrics and created by using robust tool to provide you with accurate head-to-head with the competitors. However, CIA must not be misused in order to replicate the competitor’s strategy. As it is possible that without the proprietary information, what was working for them might not work for you.
How Competitive Intelligence Works
If we talk about how it works then competitive intelligence gathers information from diverse published and unpublished sources that are collected efficiently and ethically. Expert research writers from Essay Mills emphasized over the idea of competitive intelligence and shared the opinion, a business successfully employs a competitive intelligence by cultivating a detailed enough portrait of a market place. This will help in anticipate and respond to the challenges and problems before they arise.
Competitive intelligence cut the simple cliché “know your enemy”. Yet it focuses in dept of where the businesses unearth the finer points of the competitors. Their businesses plan including the customers they serve and also the market place in which they operate. Moreover, it also analyzes how a wide variety of events disrupts rival businesses. It gives insight that how a distributors and other stakeholders may be impacted. It telegraphs that how new technologies can quickly provide invalid every assumption.
In every organization competitive intelligence may mean a different thing to a different people and departments. Like for instance, to a sales representative, it may refer to a tactical advice on how to achieve a profitable contract. Top management may look for cultivating the unique and marketing strategies used to gain market share against a daunting competitor.
The main purpose of a competitive intelligence is to help make better informed decisions and also enhance the organizational performance by taking risk and availing opportunities before they become apparent. The aim of competitive intelligence is to help business preventing from going off guard, by any oppositional forces.
Types of Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence can be divided into two main silos: tactical and strategic. If we talk about “Tactical Intelligence” it is shorter-term and seeks to provide input into issues like capturing market share or increasing revenues. However, “Strategic Intelligence” focuses on the longer-term issues, such as key risk and the opportunities that faces the enterprise. In both the cases, competitive intelligence differs from corporate or industrial espionage. It is based on the illegal and unethical methods to avail unfair competitive advantage.
How to Prepare Competitive Intelligence Analysis Report
Half of the battle is the competitive intelligence and analyzing and collating it in the form of a report is how you ensure its proper distribution within your company in the most efficient and organized manner. The steps that are part of it are pretty simple.
Deciding the target of the report
There will be a lot of competitors that a company will track through CI. Therefore, the report must comprise of both the direct competitors that are very active in the target market. Moreover, the top companies in a similar industry or with the same business model. As having the right mix of competitors in your report would allow you to get a well-rounded blend of strategies, best practices, and competitive intelligence analysis techniques to apply in your space.
What should be a part of the report?
“In what ways would this report will help?” This must be your first question that you should seek to answer. Compile the report on the basis of areas you wish to explore. Hence the ultimate goal is to compare yourself against the competition, so that you incorporate the best practices and enhance your current performance. Traditionally, the report must give insight and Intel on your competition.
- Details regarding business’s target market
- Comparison of your product to the competitors product
- The ranking of the competitors product
- Current and projected market share, sales, and revenues
- Comparison of pricing models
- Analysis of marketing strategy and social media strategy
- Details of customer rating of the product/services of each competitor
The bottom line is the key to success of competitive intelligence is the “intelligence”. As the information gathered formally or informally won’t help in any way unless the company analyzed it thoughtfully and carefully. If one is able to do it in the finest then they can use the information in the strategic or come up with decisions for the organization.
About Us:-
Sana Ahmed is a talented writer at UmrahTaxiServices.com & harmainziarah.com in Saudi Arabia and having knowledge of 5 years. She regularly writes for famous guest posting websites and magazines. She normally writes blogs on education, sports, technology, traveling, and designing.
